(1/4) To that one gifted ADHD anon: I'm the exact same way, I figured out I have executive function disorder, which falls along the lines of ADHD. I used to go through the same cycle of hell at school: Get work, get overwhelmed and anxious at the amount of work, do something to distract me from those feelings and therefore it work on it, get even more work, even more overwhelmed, etc. It was hell, and it had been happening every year since 7th grade, and I'm in 11th grade now.
(2/4) This year in school I got something called a 504 plan! You should look into it. So my experience with it is that I went to a psychiatrist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and I filled out one of those typical things like “do you get distracted easily etc on a scale of one to four” questions, then the psychiatrist went over the results with my parents and I, and then sent the results to the school.
(¾) Then my guidance counselor, assistant principal, this one mental health person, my parents, and I were in a meeting making the individualized plan that was right for me. Because of my executive function disorder I need to be able to get the lesson plan ahead of time so I can write down homework right away or else I’ll forget, and I need big assignments chunked up into smaller deadlines.
(4/4) And I need flexibility when I have tons of work for every class because or else it’ll be too much so I need maybe one or two teachers to push something back so I’m not overwhelmed. And I got that! And the best part is: the teachers by law have to follow it since it’s part of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), so if you have a douchebag teacher they still have to accommodate for you. I recommend that everyone with this issue look into this because I finally feel in control.
